Fantasies are fun, but we live in reality
by amberj-wibblets
Summary: What will happen when an ordinary girl is thrown into the world she has become so obsessed with? Will she make the dream relationship between a certain sandwich guy and his eater come true, or will it all turn pants?
1. I need to stop doing that

**A/N- First of all, this story stars me...but obviously not my real age (in real life I am 15, but in this I'm about 22-ish). Secondly, this story was inspired by the Lost in Austen series, which you will see why in later chapters. Just bear with me, the story may start off...slow maybe, but I'll get to the point soon. This chapter needs to be here, or the rest wouldn't make sense!  
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**Also, it's my first fanfic EVER, so be nice and I accept constructive criticism most happily because it will help me in the long run.  
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**Disclaimer - I, sadly do not own any Ugly Betty characters or story lines/plots. They belong to ABC. Not me. Great.**

**Thank you and enjoy.  
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**Fantasies are fun, but we live in reality**

**Chapter One**

"Stupid Betty." I breathed out as I saw Gio walk out of her door; apron and oddly named cheese balls in hand. He looked so hurt and torn between staying and going. He should stay because this woman, no matter how stupid her decisions may be sometimes, she is the woman he loves and deserves.

And everyone deserves the best, even if the best is deemed 'ugly', which Betty is not. I seem to have to explain over and over again that Betty is pretty and is wonderful and has a good heart, why on Earth would so many guys be after her if she was anything like the Modies?

Well, at this moment in time I had very little concern for Betty. I always seem to hate her a little bit after I watch_ Betty Suarez Land_, and I have watched it many times indeed! What she did was quite selfish, even though it seemed like the most selfless thing she could do. But Gio could see why she did that. Betty meant well but she was oblivious to how hurt he was at the softball game, but even through his hurt and anger he understood and justified it for her because Gio, pickle napkin Gio was a good guy. Always looking out for someone else in his own little way.

Still, I don't understand why he went and never turned back. Maybe it's a good thing for Betty, I don't know! But _Ugly Betty_ does very little for me now that Gio has gone.

"You should have ran after him Betty," I said as I clicked the button on my remote and watched the screen morph to nothing, "Then I'd be more excited on Fridays!" During season 2 I would quite literally run home from work...and sit at my television screen for 4 hours until the show was on. You may think its odd for someone to rush home just to wait another 4 hours for a program that doesn't affect real life, but_ you_ would be odd for thinking that! Ugly Betty is a more than just an interest of mine – its a way of life! Even the title screen inspires me. When I hear the 'blink blinks', I just have to dance, even if my version of dancing is wiggling in my seat...and occasionally falling off because of the enthusiasm I put into my wiggling.

But recently...I don't dance. Not really. Well, there's a minimal amount of swishing involved but its just not the same! There's no love in this series, not real love anyway. Not Getty love. I loved Getty love. It made me smile. Ever since the quacking-woofing fiasco, my life was complete! We had a absolutely cute sandwich guy and a geeky writer...it gave hope to us all! But now, all we have is...Jesse! Cute, yes. But can he make turkey and sundried tomato sandwiches just how Betty likes them? I doubt that very much. And does he get Betty to take risks...eh? Well, actually he kind of does...but not in a Gio way. No one can do things the Gio way. The Gio way _is_ the only way.

However, there has been none of the Gio way since he turned away and never came back. So sad. Every time I see him go it feels as if...well, it just feels bad! I've seen that scene so many times now and it feels worse every time, and like I said before, I have seen Betty Suarez Land many times. 14 times to be exact, but maybe the billionth time I've had Gio on my screen. People think I'm obsessed. I'm not obsessed. Not at all.

I don't _have_ to watch _Ugly Betty_ everyday. I don't check fanfiction almost every hour for new Getty stories. I don't rely on Fan Videos to make my day complete, and I most definitely do not draw Gio's Pickle whenever I get the chance. Not at all. Never. Honest.

But I have every right to be obsessed...if I were, which I'm not.

However, why would I be obsessed with a show that won't keep the best-thing-since-sliced-bread on the screen?! Forget that I said it was a way of life – I lied. There, I'm a bad person!

Or just a person that wanted Betty to have a happily-ever-after...because if she can do it, we all can. Except, she is a fictitious character, and what's the likely hood that there is a short, Italian sandwich-maker for all us ladies?

Sometimes, I know how stupid this might sound, but I wish I could be Betty for a day and make it all right, or at least observe and help. Betty would be with Gio, Henry would be away happily with his child and Christina...well, Christina would be Christina. She rocks! Go Her!

But, sadly the only way I could make things good would be if I were a writer for the show, which I am not. Damn. So, that sucks...but a girl can dream, even if it is for someone else's happiness. I'm a romantic, I can't help it!

I decided that wishing the Ugly Betty plot would dramatically change was a waste of time, and I was tired (nothing new there...) so I skulked off to my bedroom, and fell on the bed. Literally.

"Ow...a bed is meant to be soft..." I felt my nose to check it was okay. As it sticks out the most it's the first thing that could be broken. Second, my glasses. Both were fine, but I knew there would be a lovely bruise on my face in the morning..."Great!" I crawled up to the top of my bed, threw the covers over me and was soon asleep – with my glasses still on, I need to stop doing that.

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	2. But I do have impeccable hearing

**A big thank you to everyone that has favorited and reviewed this story! You are great! Go you! Woot Woot!**

**You made my day...  
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**Also, the plot has turned out a bit different to what I originally planned, but I might that explain later.**

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**Fantasies are fun, but we live in reality**

**Chapter two**

As usual I was awoken by the _heavenly_ squeal from my alarm clock. What a great way to start the day?! I've always had something against the creator of the alarm clock...idiot! But today, I had a valid reason to hate him...it was a Saturday. I don't get up at six o'clock on a Saturday. I 'told' my alarm that, but it wanted to do it's own thing.

"Urgh...Let me sleep!"I tried to reach for the alarm, which should be on the left side of my bed in an easily reachable distance. But it wasn't. "Who's been messing with my feng shui?" I grunted as I spun around to reach out to the right side. It was there, in all of it's wanting-to-ruin-my-day-by-waking-me-up glory! "What does it matter?-" I said as I tried to reach the button. "I know nothing about feng shui, I don't even know what feng shui is!" I tried to hammer down on the snooze button. Nothing. I tried a different button, but the screeching just got louder.

"I am NOT in the mood for this!" I grabbed the alarm, gathered up all the strength that I could muster at such an early hour of the day and sent the damned thing hurtling towards the wall.

The noise stopped. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Amen. Now, I could get another hour or so in bed...just need to snuggle down, find a comfortable spot, and...

_**"And that was the latest single by the Backstreet Boys, 'Backstreet's back. Again!"**_

Thank Buddha I missed that, I did not need _that _in the morning.

"I thought I killed you Alarm Clock, but still you return, disguised with the voice of an...an American?!" This wasn't right. Terry Wogan is meant to wake me up with his mellow tones, he's the Grandfather of the airwaves (Damn my mother for getting me hooked...actually no, I love my mother.) But who's this joker? Since when do I rely on an American Idiot to rouse me from my slumber? "Hmm...makes a nice change..."

_**"Now for the weather report on this fine Tuesday morning in New York City. Over to you Sally."**_

I opened my eyes quickly – too quickly. I had to blink several times to stop the stinging.

"_That_ - " I shouted whilst pointing to the wall from under the duvet, "is not right!" I squeaked out toward the end. "It is not Tuesday!" Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes, from the tiredness and stinging from before, and maybe I get a little emotional when I can't have a lie-in...

"I deserve at least another five minutes...due to the trauma."

And thats when I clicked.

"New York? No...I live in Britain. Britain is a long distance away from New York!" I started to panic. I could feel my heart beating faster and faster. "I could have mis-heard it, right?" Calming down, heart pace slowing. Calm. "But I do have impeccable hearing..." Panicking...

"There's only one way to find out..." I shut my eyes tightly as I pulled the duvet from over my head. I slowly opened one eye and peered over the top of the cover (Scanning the room with only one eye open is stupidly hard...)

My bedroom looked the same as its always been. Everything seemed to be in it's place, except for the alarm clock...and a few photo frames. I seem to be where I've always been, the radio must have gotten confused or something, or maybe my hearing isn't so impeccable anymore...

I reached out for the right hand side of my bed for my glasses. Not there. So, I swung over on my side to look at the left side of the bed, and there they were. _Why were my left and right side tables muddled?_ I slid my glasses on my face and reached over even further to pull the blinds open. (Thats how lazy I am, I don't bother to get out of bed to do that.)

And that's when I saw it. The Brooklyn Bridge. Standing there, in the view of my window.

"What...?" I reached over more to see what else I could see. The peak of the Empire State Building. Broadway. And...Bumbles and Bumbles?

"Wait a minute..."

I climbed too far out of my bed and onto the wobbly side table which collapsed making me fall by a solid object. I had hit my head on the wardrobe door and, man that hurt!

As I sat there, rubbing my sore head in a vague attempt to sooth the throbbing, a piece of blue paper floated down from the top of the wardrobe. It was quite peaceful watching it fall. It was like a feather gliding gracefully down and down to the ground, and it just lay there, still and calm. It was the calmest thing I had seen that morning, compared to the world outside of my window, a world I had never seen or imagined, I felt at ease in a place that I knew so well. I knew the room I was in now couldn't be the same room as the one back home, but there was just a sense of familiarity that I felt content with. I could lay here forever, still and calm, like the paper.

I must of hit my head hard...I was comparing myself to a piece of paper.

I couldn't just sit there looking at it, so I slid over and cautiously dragged the paper back to where I was by the wardrobe. A corner of the page was torn, so a part of the drawing on the paper was missing. It didn't look like anything important anyway.

I turned the paper over to the other side and saw a line of writing:-

_'Think you can do a better job? Good Luck...'_

It wasn't written very neatly, like the person who wrote it was in a rush. That might explain the torn part in the corner, like someone ripped it out of a book quickly.

"Think I could do a better job at...what?" I turned the paper over again, looking for more answers or at least a clue. I studied the drawing again, it was a sketch map of New York, or at least a small part of it, with street names and buildings. But why did I need a map?

I continued to look at both sides of the paper.

"What's the map for? Why do I need to do something better? Why am I here? What-...What is _that_?!"

I looked to the door which was sightly open and could see something big, white and shiny at the other side. It's in my nature to investigate...especially if the something that I'm investigating is shiny. I like shiny, shiny is bright and happy. I crawled to the door and peeped 'round the door.

I had to blink multiple times to try to adjust my eyes, I couldn't be seeing correctly. But when I was sure I had blinked more than enough times I looked up again. It was still there.

A bathtub. In the living room. There was only one person who could have a bathtub in their living room.

Betty Suarez.

"I'm not in her apartment, stupid!" My heart was beating faster and faster by the second and by legs felt frozen but I still managed to stand up and edge out of the bedroom, remaining stuck on the wall at all times. "If I was, there would be _romantic _views," I said as I slowly pulled the curtain open, relieved to see an elderly gentleman fully clothed and eating his breakfast by the window, "And there isn't!" I was relieved, that is until the gentleman was followed by his wife - in her birthday suit!

"OH MY G- PUT IT AWAY, WOMAN!" I struggled to hide my eyes by tugging on the curtain with my eyes shut, but I could still see the image in my mind - gross!

After a third tug the whole curtain ripped off the metal hooks and I was left in a heap on the floor with the material covering my whole body. "I'm scarred for life..." I whispered to myself. Even if this was all a dream, that last image was graphic enough to haunt me even when I'm awake.

That was it! _It's only a dream._ Doing as all people do when they think they're in a dream, I pinched myself silly!

After resorting to self-harm, I gave up "Ouchie..." I said from under the curtain, and my words came out muffled.

I started to cry. Not because of the pinching (I'm not _that_ much of a wuss), but I was scared. absolutely, truly scared. I had no idea what to do. I'd never really stepped out of Wales before, and now I was in New York - In Betty's apartment. This stuff doesn't happen, only in books and movies but _this_ - this was something else!

I just lay there quietly, scared, upset, angry, confused. I never knew that I could feel so many emotions at one time. Well, not since Billy stole my skipping rope from me and threw it in a muddy puddle, and that was in playschool. I hated that jerk...

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I think I fell back asleep in that spot because when I pushed the material to make a peep hole the room was a lot lighter...and outside was noisy - really noisy. I didn't want to go out there whatever happened!

I pivoted on the floor to look around the room. It was quite bare compared to what I was used to seeing on the television, there wasn't the 'Betty' charm anywhere, which made me quite sure that she wasn't here...but I called out anyway,

"Ooooh...Betty?! Hello?!" Nothing.

Picking myself up from the floor, I scurried around the apartment just to be sure I was alone. I still had the curtain covering me, but I just felt safer wearing it in case a masked man with a roaring chainsaw appeared from behind a closed door. I don't know what use the curtain would be then...

But then something else happened, something more terrifying than a crazy masked man with machinery...

The phone rang. There is not a more tense moment then when you're on your own in a strange place and the phone rings...haven't you seen the movies?

I didn't know where the phone was...so I was pacing around the apartment cautiously even though I didn't know where I was meant to be cautious at. The ringing got louder, which was odd...and it changed pace and tone. I backed up to a wall so I could scan the room easier, but I still couldn't see a phone, just a post-it note on a lamp shape in the corner. I walked up to it...scared that it might blow up or that it's a death trap or something (in tense times I have an over-active imagination...) I walked around the lamp before touching it, just in case the note was attached to some wires. But, thankfully it wasn't. If it was...well, I'm just glad it wasn't!

_'In the fridge. Don't ask.'_

"Well, that's the most obvious place, isn't it? How very silly of me!" Sarcasm doesn't seem the same when you're on your own...

So, I went up to the fridge to pick up the phone. Hesitating at the handle, I braced myself for the head of Bradford Meade on a salad plate - just in case the 'phone' was a trap. This world is evil like that.

Thankfully however, once I pulled back the door there was indeed a purple phone in there...on a salad plate.

"Neat...I might keep that. How often do you see a purple phone?" I said with the most genuine smile I had on that morning. Then, I had to pick up the receiver...scary stuff!

The voice on the other line started talking straight away without saying hello, how rude!

"Well done Amber, it took you long enough!" The voice was husky and low, but with an odd bit of bounce to it.

"How do you know my name? And...and why am I here, I'm guessing you know? Why does the old couple in the window have to be there?" I looked to the window with no curtain and saw that the man had joined his wife in the nude - _Nice...!_

"Firstly, I thought that if I'm going to send you here I might as well get to know your name. Secondly, you'll have to figure that out, and thirdly that just comes as a part of the package. Lucky you!"

"...Why is the phone in the fridge?"

"Why not?" _Ooh, good comeback my friend, good comeback!_

There was an awkward silence...

And at times like these, I am usually the person that has to break the ice, "Soooo...what's the weather like where you're at?"

"Shut up and listen, all I will tell you is that you have to go to MODE. You know what that is obviously. Go to the Meade building and go straight to the elevator."

"Is there going to be a hit-man there...or top-secret documents...I think I'd make a great spy." I imagined fast cars, guns, explosives, bad guys, ninjas...

"You do know where the Meade building is, don't you?"

I had only realised I was in New York for a few hours and I hadn't stepped out of this apartment yet, I had absolutely no idea where anything was in this place... "Pssh...Yeah!" I was an idiot.

"Good."

The line went dead. He didn't say hello and he didn't say goodbye - this man was the rudest of rude men of the phone.

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	3. No Amanda, I am NOT the before

**Sorry it has taken a while for me to get this writen up but my school work was smothering me, and to be honest I couldn't find the inspiration to write!  
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**Anyway, here is my attempt at the third chapter...I didn't quite know where to end it, so sorry if you think it ended bad! Oh, and sorry if some of the quotes are wrong, I had to try to write them from memory.  
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**Please review even if you hate it!

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**Fantasies are fun, but we live in reality**

**Chapter three**

I looked at the clock on the wall, 8:30 - Plenty of time, assuming that I have to be there at 9 o'clock. _Why do I have to go to MODE? Do I work there? Why do I have to go straight to the elevator...don't I have to fill out some forms first?_ All of these questions were filling my head, but I wasn't asking myself the most obvious one - _How do I get to the Meade building?_

Then I remembered the paper in the bedroom, the one with the map on it. Maybe that could tell me how to get there! I picked up the paper...but it didn't have Meade on it. _What's the point in drawing a map that I don't need?!_ But, he said I had to go there, and go there I shall...I'll most probably be late - not even fashionably late.

"I guess MODE is where I have to go to find out why I'm here." I hushed under my breath.

I rushed with getting myself ready so I chucked on a t-shirt, jeans and black pumps (thankfully, all of my clothes were transferred here too!) I stopped to find a set of keys so I could let myself back in afterwards, and there they were already in my bag along with my mobile and other cute things I like to keep in there.

I locked the door on the way out which took at least 5 minutes to do because I am hopeless with doors - Push don't pull, open or locked...it's all too confusing for me.

When I finally managed to secure the door I turned around to make my way down the hall but something caught my eye - Jesse's door.

As per usual, my curiosity got the best of me and I crept towards the door. I checked the name on it, but it was blank._ Not everyone puts their name on their door I suppose._ But, it would've been kind-of-maybe-just-a-little-bit cool if he did live there...he's nice to look at.

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The streets of New York were not at all what you see on TV - They were worse.

The roads were packed with yellow cabs darting from one end of the street to the other; people shouting, whistling, busking, selling knock-offs; People rushing to work, bumping and shoving other, cursing under their breath. I got pushed around a few times but I was too mesmerized by this place that I didn't care. Sometimes I'd be pushed in a different direction and carry on that way - I didn't know which way I was meant to go anyway! I tried asking a few people which way Meade Publications was but they were very rude about it, somebody even called me a Bucking Tom, Dick and Harry-head (I'll let you work that one out...)

I gave up and sat on one a the gross, bird-poop soaked benches out on the sidewalk. _If I am meant to go to MODE, I would've been given a proper map or directions or something, or by some miracle I would be there by now._ As in all moments when we ask for a sign we are given one,at least in movies or on television (and I kind of was on a television program, so it was expected), a miraculous sign appeared swerving 'round the corner.

"Meaty Cheese Van..." It was the very same smokey-grey van that his highness, mighty St. Gio uses to transport his meaty-cheese goodness and Betty places! Good times, good times!

You may say "How did I know it was his van? There must be hundreds in the city!" Well, I had a hunch (Not literally,and I don't ring bells either!), and when you have a feeling as strong as I did, you've gotta go for it, even if it turns out...bad!

I'm hopeless at running, always have been and always will but I still tried. I tried to run after the van without looking too stupid. Failed. Trash-cans, signs, old people in mobility vehicles - you name it, I fell into or on it. But I was on a mission and I would never give up, especially if there was a certain brown eyed Italian involved...I'm a Getty shipper after all - Don't judge me!

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After a _very_ long run (That man loves to detour!) I was stood in front of the Meade building in all of it's grandeur splendor. It was quite an intimidating building, towering over you, looking down on you. The van was already parked up outside without the driver inside so Gio was either at MODE visiting Betty or he was in his deli which I couldn't see, but I didn't really know where to look anyway!

I walked up the stone steps to the main door. The door man was there looking at me out of the corner of his eye but he said nothing, which was good because I couldn't explain why I was at Meade. I couldn't say that a mysterious man on the phone told me to go to MODE on a secret mission, because for one thing I'd sound crazy, and I'd get thrown out if I said I acted like a terrorist or a spy...

The lobby was magnificently clean and bright with marble pillars and floors, and everyone was dressed so smart and well presented but here I was in my 'Nerd Love' T-shirt and purple jeans, Great. Standing out for the wrong reasons - Again. I could feel people's eyes burning into me while whispering little remarks. "Mature, eh!" I said to myself, but loud enough for those close to hear "If this is what its like down here, how bad is it going to be up at MODE?" The clacking of heels stopped, men in suits stopped talking to one-another, a few gasps could be heard from one corner and I think someone started crying.

"She's one of_ them_?!"

"Meade will hire anyone these days..."

"Not another one! Isn't that girl with the braces enough?" Insults one after another, but I had more pressing issues to deal with - Where was the lift in this place?

One woman in her 60's directed me to the elevator and the side of the lobby and waved me off. Either she was mad, or she thought I was.

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The lift was just as you see it on the television - small, but not too small, in a walnut brown and there was of course the picture in the back. I read somewhere that the picture represents something that happens in the episode it appears, but I've never really figured most of them out. The one for today wasn't up yet for some reason...maybe that could of given me some sort of clue as to what episode I was in. I pressed the number that I had remembered so well to get to the MODE floor, 28.

Floor One. My hands started to shake a little bit. "Calm down Amber."

Floor Two. My legs started feeling like jelly. "It's only a fictional place. You know what goes on here...just need to find out what _is_ going on."

Floor Three. The doors opened to show the one and only Henry Grubstick. He was standing there in his usual pastel shirt/Checkered vest combo that he sports so often and so well.

"Oh, hello!" He said in his usual perky tone while pushing his glasses upwards. He walked in the lift remaining totally up-right in his posture.

"Urh..." _This is real, I'm really here. Henry wouldn't be here if it was all...fake or something,_ "Hi. Hello. Howdy. How's it going?" _Shut up, Shut Up._ Why was I mumbling in _Henry's_ presence? Fair enough if it was Gio, but Henry?

"It's going...great!" He looked a bit confused but he smiled one of his most broadest smiles. Fair game, he was cute and had an adorable look about him...and I did love nerds, like the shirt says! But my mother had a thing for him, that's enough to put anyone off. "I haven't seen you here before...Oh Henry, by the way!" He lent out his empty hand to shake mine.

"Amber...Oh, yeah, well I'm starting here today, I think."

"You...think?

"Yeah...long story. Wow...that's a bright poster!" I looked down to his left arm which had folders, paperwork and an interesting orange flyer.

"Oh this?" He pulled it out from the stack in his hand, "Yeah, this short guy was handing them out." The famous pickle was smiling at me from the page, under the bold writing **GIO'S SANDWICHES. **"It looks interesting, and I keep flyers and leaflets just in case me and Betty..." He stopped himself from continuing. "Never mind."

I knew exactly what he was on about but I didn't just want to blurt it out that I knew, so as nonchalantly as possible, "You and Betty...secret romance?" He half-heatedly smiled and he wasn't going to add anything onto that for me. "I won't say anything. Promise." His smile became a little wider but I could see that he was still concerned about something.

"Sooo..." He said while looking at the lit up buttons by the door, "28th floor? You're going to MODE?" I nodded in reply. "It's okay up there, once you get past all of the sharks and snooty comments. Betty works there, I'm sure she'll show you around. She's the most real looking one there...and the prettiest." His smile fully lit up now. She really did mean the world to him, but I've always thought that it wasn't meant to be, I thought that he should be back with Charlie so their child could maybe have a stable family to grow up with.

The doors opened at the 28th floor. It really did look quite alien in real life. I breathed in deeply ready to go out into the wild.

"Good luck."

"Thanks, I think I'm going to need it." I wandered out into the crisp white surrounding. "See you around Henry, and thanks for talking to me in the lift, not many people do that.

"Anytime." The doors closed on his smiling face which made some of my nerves disappear. Good Ol' Henry. He was a good guy, but not good enough for our Betty. No way.

The main vocal point when I turned the corner was obviously Amanda in the big orange circle, flicking through a magazine and nibbling on jelly beans while the phones were blaring with a deafening ring. _How does she keep this job?_

Next to the desk I saw a slight glimpse of black hair and an orange shirt walking to one of the famous MODE tubes. _He's here, it must be him!__ Oh Holy Saint Gio!_ I picked up the pace and was soon speed walking to get near to where he went. If there was anyone that I had to meet, it was him.

"Oh My G-"

"No Amanda, I am NOT the before. I haven't the time for you right now!" I scurried past the desk into the tube to avoid any discussing with her.

"Hey, you can't just walk past here." She shouted after me.

Turning on my heel so I was walking backwards, I shouted back, "Oh yes I can, I work here!" I wasn't sure if I did...but I said it anyway.

"Not another one..."

Just then I tripped over and soon enough I was looking up at a curved ceiling. "Ouch."

But any feeling of pain from my fall was soon gone...

"Tell me who you're dating!"

I rolled over to look around the corner halfway through the tube but I couldn't see the commotion that I have seen thousands of times before.

"Will you just get your own LIFE?! PLEASE!!"

I had to see this sweet quarrel as if my life depended on it, so I army-crawled over to the desks close to them and peeped over the top. The snooty woman sitting there doing something with her green bag gave me a dirty look and was about to say something but I put a finger to my lips and then pointed to her "You wouldn't understand" I shook my head as I repeated it, "You just would not understand." She looked in the direction of Betty and Gio, and soon became interested in what they had to say too.

"Okay. Henry from accounting, there." Betty held her hand out to accept the tickets from Gio

"Yeah, egg salad on white, sexy." He slapped her hand with his empty hand rather than the one with the tickets, "More."

I tried to contain myself, but this was just too cute a moment to stay quiet, "Awww..." Gio turned around to see where the noise came from but I was already hidden under the desk, so the woman at the desk who was being nosey got the confused look from Gio who went back to looking at Betty.

"He got a girl pregnant and I don't want my boss to find out because if he does he's just going to tell me that I'm being stupid."

"Wow, you are being stupid."

And this was it, the moment that he was crowned with one of his famous titles, "You're a very rude fake boyfriend. Now can I have my tickets please?"He gave her one of the tickets and made a point that he had only given her one of them, "Ur, no the other one too!"

"I have to be prepared in case Daniel asks me about the show." Betty was getting flustered and angry, "Look, he gave them to both of us You do what you want with your ticket, and I'll do what I want with mine."

"Well, I'm not going with _you_!" She shoved the ticket back into his shirt pocket, "Thank you for ruining my special night." Betty stormed of but stopped at the tube entrance, the same one I just came out from, "And I've got news for you buddy. Your pickle with the smiling face" She had one of Gio's posters in her hand from where she ripped it off the wall, "It's...it's..." Gio was waiting expectantly for an insulting and degrading comment from her, "Bad!"

"Oooh, big words coming from the writer!" Betty was soon walking down the tube to got to the reception desk.

"Suck it!"

From the distance Amanda's obnoxiously nosey voice could be heard from the corridor, "Why are you talking about that guy's pickle?" I burst out in hysterics at that comment as I have done many times before, but by now I was hidden behind the woman's chair at the desk so Gio couldn't see me when he looked at her again with a more puzzled look then before. He shook his head and walked off to the other side of the building to where Marc would be.

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	4. Dancing for tickets

_**Well this has taken me a while to get this one out...but I promise it won't happen again if I can help it :)

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**_

**Fantasies are fun, but we live in reality**

**Chapter 4**

I slid out from behind the desk where I was hiding. The elegant snob of a woman that manned the desk gave me another of her scornful looks. "What?! Don't tell me you weren't interested in what was going on!"

She eyed me again and slyly smiled, "Only in him. Why was he talking to _her_ anyway?"

"Why not?! Betty is a wonderful person who is brilliant and obviously Gio can see that...why wouldn't he be interested in her?!" She looked back at me in almost shock as my voice was rising into an unrecognisable squeal. "And it's people like you, Missy who make it difficult for people like myself and Betty to fit in!"

"I was only saying!" She held her hands up in front of her in defense.

"Well then," I straightened myself up and tried to compose myself after my odd little outburst, "Good Day to you sir...madam, I can't really tell with that caterpillar on your mouth. Man, he looks nasty!" She gasped at my comment and as I turned to find someone to tell me where to go she pulled out a mirror from her bag and was examining every last inch of her face.

I started down the tube to go back to the reception desk to see if Amanda would be at least a bit helpful. That was most probably asking for too much. Instead I saw Betty still talking to Amanda about a compromise to the whole walking-Halston-in-a-bathing-suit bribe that Amanda was insisting.

"I might let you wear a sarong if you're on your best behaviour!"

"No Amanda."

Amanda pulled out a couple of Wicked tickets from the drawer by her side, "Then...I guess you don't want these..."

"Yes Amanda, I do want those tickets. Just...please!" Betty was trying to lean over the counter to get to the tickets which Amanda was now waving around slowly.

"Dance."

Betty stopped mid-stretch and looked at Amanda in a bit of disbelief. "What?! No Amanda I'm not going to dance for tickets!"

"Then I guess I'll give them to someone else..." Amanda's perfectly made-up eyes scanned lazily around the hall until her eyes set on me walking up, "You!" She was pointing directly at me, "You...the new one! Come here!" I rolled my eyes but I walked over to the desk.

"Yes Amanda?" She cocked an eyebrow and lowered the tickets nearer to me.

"You can have these tickets." She looked down at the pieces of card in front of us and then back at me, "But first, how do you know my name?" She moved the tickets back up to near her face and stared at me with a puzzled look on her face, "You've only been here for 10 minutes, or 15...whatever!"

"Urrmm...who doesn't know who you are?" I half-heartedly smiled hoping that she would buy it, which she of course did due to her big ego. She handed the tickets down into my hand and smiled to herself, until she looked at Betty who was shocked and a bit upset.

"What?! She knows who I am!"

Betty quickly walked back to her desk to pick up her bag and coat which she forgot to take with her. I had to jog to catch up with her because she was practically running. "Betty! Wait for a second, please!" She turned around to face me and I could tell that she was disappointed and angry at Amanda - who wouldn't be? But Betty quickly changed the expression on her face and appeared to be her usual cheery self. "Here are your tickets - enjoy the show." I handed the tickets in front of Betty, but she was reluctant to take them from me.

"No, no, Amanda gave them to you....erm..."

"Amber. Yeah sorry I'm new here, I haven't really introduced myself properly to anyone yet. But anyway the tickets are yours, just take them. Please."

"I can't, I shouldn't..."

"Why not?" I was quite surprised at her reluctance; these were tickets to Wicked, the show she's wanted to see for ages...and I needed her to sit with Gio there. It was a win-win situation, one that couldn't be messed with.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and was looking toward the window. Her face went back to it's sullen state as it was before, "It's nothing, really. I shouldn't be talking to you about this - or anyone else for the matter. I brought it on myself."

"C'mon, your..." I had to raise my hand to create a barrier from the rest of the workers, "boyfriend has already confined in me today, I'm sure you can!"

She turned to me in shock, "Gio isn't my boyfriend, nope not really, no not at all. He isn't and he won't be and I don't want him to be anymore, or at least pretend to be, and -"

"No noooo no, Henry was talking to me in the lift and he kind-of told me about you. Actually, I guessed...I'm quite good at that," Especially when I have an advantage. "If I won't say anything about you two, I'm sure I won't say anything about what's bothering you."

Betty sucked in some air and tensed up, "It's just that everyone and everything seems to be telling us that we can't be together, but I can't let anybody know that I'm with Henry because then Daniel will find out and fire him. I can't let that happen, but I don't want to lose Henry either." I nodded at her explanation, I understood where she was coming from. "Oh listen to me, getting upset all over tickets. Sorry, and thank you for them, that's very kind of you."

"I ask for only one thing in return though," She nodded and seemed like she would do almost anything to make up for them as long as Amanda didn't decide what, "Tell me what I'm supposed to do here! Now this is going to sound stupid, but all I know is that I work here at MODE. I've no idea what department or area I'm meant to be at, and Henry said to come and talk to you about it."

"Oh, okay. Sure, yeah! I was getting a bit worried, I thought that you were going to get me to dance for them. However, we're going to have to go talk to Amanda."

"Oh...Damn...her...grrr!" I wasn't really upset about having to talk to Amanda, she makes me laugh silently inside. And if she got on my nerves I could freak her out with my 'Mystical Knowledge' of the future.

I wouldn't have the chance because when we arrived back at the reception desk Amanda was gone and no one else was manning the phones.

"Oh great!" Betty through her arms into the air, "She's most probably with Marc, again. I honestly don't know why she has a job here, except for Fey Sommers' involvement...hmm." Betty opened up the entrance to the circular desk and sat at one of the computers. She began clicking away at the screen. "Right...okay. You work in the art department. That's cool, I guess you'll be working with Wilhelmina and the rest of the creative team."

"Oh, Wilhelmina. Yeah, I've heard of her. She's a whole lot of nasty mess, right?"

"Right! Oh shoot, I have to go. Okay, the department is down that way, it's near the closet!" She scurried to get up and nearly slipped on the chair in her attempt. "I'm sorry I can't stay and help you get settled but if you get lost go ask Christina in the closet. If she's cranky go get her a drink of...something, just make it quite strong. But normally shes fine, just a bit difficult to understand." She ran off down to the elevators, "And thank you again!"

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End file.
